Bill and coin changers are well known. The known bill and coin changers include a bill validator mechanism which is operable to sense and validate currency, a change dispensing mechanism for storing, counting and dispensing a predetermined number of coins or tokens in response to the receipt and validation of a bill by the bill validator. Typically, a microprocessor control interconnects the change dispensing mechanism and the bill validator. A well-known example of a bill and coin changer is the bill and coin changer Model BC-11 manufactured by Rowe International, Inc. whose operation is more fully described in the Field and Service Manual and Price Catalog for the BC-11 bill and coin changer dated February, 1981, which is incorporated by reference herein. The bill validator in the known Rowe Model BC-11 bill and coin changers are not operable to validate new five dollar bills which are scheduled to be released in the United States in the near future. Accordingly, it is desirable to be able to replace the bill validator in an existing Rowe Model BC-11 bill and coin changer with a new bill validator which is operable to validate new five dollar bills in the United States.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages associated with the prior art Model BC-11 bill and coin changers by removing the bill validator in the bill and coin changer and replacing it with a Series 2000 bill changer manufactured by Mars Electronics International. The new Series 2000 bill validator will be operable to sense and validate new and old five dollar bills, two dollar bills and one dollar bills (in addition to other bills), and establish an output signal which is indicative of the validity of the bill validated and the denomination thereof.